I've grown chilis and cannabis without really knowing what I am doing, now I wanted to learn to grow any veggies, but finally learn about soil and prepare it well myself.
I naively tried to use coco substrate with tap water and killed off my tomato seedlings pretty fast. Then I've did some research into soil and learned about more organic approaches, and also that pure coco is a bit like dry hydroponics and needs a lot of understanding, and that I probably both over-fertilized and starved them at the same time.
I'm going to start from seeds in Mel's mix with 1/3 coco 1/3 perlite/vernaculite 1/3 compost. Is this kind of substrate to be treated as organic or as mineral approach? The compost probably adds the typical soil properties including the buffering of pH and EC and taking care of fertilization.
But I do not want to re-pot all the time, it is messy and inconvenient. I don't really like working with soil. Instead I want to use mineral fertilizers. Once the compost is depleted, can I consider it to be like a non-soil grow? I got a pH/EC sensor to check my water and the drain coming out, diluted a pH- down based on diluted citric acid to normalize my water to 6,5pH, which seems like a good starting point for any situation.
Does it make sense to follow some generic approach (like keeping pH/EC in certain ranges in certain growth stages)? I do not want to use commercial fertilization formula schemes. I want to work with standard off the shelf mineral fertilizers. Is it possible to get decent results with that?
And where can I find that kind of information for general vegetables, like tomatoes or cucumbers etc.?
The whole soil business is pretty overwhelming, but I want to learn enough (without getting a degree in agriculture) so that I can do this not blindly but improvise with available substrates and fertilizer. How to get this knowledge?
My experience of veggies is they are mostly very tollerant of moderate soil conditions (i.e. no extremes). No need to go heavy on perfecting the soil, so long as it's decently fertlised you'll get s decent crop :). Most are cultivated with ease of growth in mind. The one thing I'd say is to not plant in pure compost in pots or raised beds as it dries out too quickly (your coco coir experience sounds like that was a major factor). An enriched soil will do just fine.
For seed sowing, the main thing is that it isn't too rich otherwise they'll grow too leggy too quickly. You pot on or plant out once the 'baby' leaves are outgrown typically once the energy from the seed is spent. Other than that don't fuss. I've tried perlite and vermiculite and didn't find it made the slightest bit of difference. It just makes a nicer soil in terms of being fine and workable. Buy a seed compost if you really want something good. I use any junk I have available frankly! So long as it's not too lumpy! A soil that doesn't swing from dry to wet is probably most important at the germination stage. You can cover pots with cling film to help that, especially whilst on a heat mat.
If you suspect your outdoor soil may be strongly acid or alkaline, get some test strips snd check and pull it closer to pH7-7.5. Otherwise just plant out.
You'll find there's always a few things that either really don't like your garden/growing space, for no apparent reason!
Re guides : the RHS has tonnes of info. Also take a rummage in a thrift/charity shop, or go to your library - growing methods don't go out of date! But you can also follow the guides on the seed packets and you'll do ok! Albeit with a few failures ;) life isn't perfect and your plant growing won't be either, just aim to enjoy whatever crop you get :)
The most "outdoor" I have is the balcony, so it will be a pot- and box-based little garden (some that will be permanently outside and some more movable).
Thanks for the tips! Good point, I also maybe should not overthink or over-engineer it. I'm a software engineer so maybe I approach this way too analytical :D
No problem! Look up "all you can eat in three square feet" there's a good book of that title, could be some online stuff too. Also read up about companion planting.
Soil science both in terms of chemistry and micro organisms can be quite interesting, but probably only of much use for troubleshooting. Although the nature of balcony/pot growing probably makes it less relevant as you'll be wanting to refresh the soil/compost each year so the conditions will be too changable to use that if you have problems. I'd focus on pest defence, light/heat, watering and fertilising (fresh compost will provide nutrients for a few months generally) over more specific soil conditions!